The Movie: The Little Hours
The Director: Jeff Baena
The Cast: Aubrey Plaza, John C. Reilly, Molly Shannon, Alison Brie, Dave Franco, Kate Micucci, Nick Offerman
The Story: A young servant fleeing from his master takes refuge at a convent full of emotionally unstable nuns in the middle ages.
The Review:
Jeff Baena has been climbing the ladder of successful comedy writers and directors over the last couple years and his latest film should elevate him even further on that list. He keeps the story pretty simple and basically creates a foundation and platform for this highly talented roster of comedians to show off what they do best. Most of the plot revolves around Dave Franco's character who does a great job as the straight man to all the crazy antics that are constantly going on around him. Meanwhile, Aubrey Plaza, Alison Brie, and Kate Micucci steamroll their way through a gigantic pile of vulgarity filled comedy that had me laughing most of the way through.
Plaza, who has made a name for herself with her sarcastic demeanor and R-rated expertise, really lets it all out as she unleashes a constant stream of profanity laced insults towards everyone in her path. Meanwhile, Micucci stakes her own claim as the clown princess of the covenant with an outrageous performance that should have her attending confession for a very long time. We also get to watch Allison Brie, Molly Shannon, and John C. Reilly do their thing along with a full congregation of comedic talents to complement Franco and the aforementioned leading ladies.
As far as the story goes, I was actually a bit surprised with how well it was put together as an overall narrative as it could easily have just been a bunch of comedy sketches thrown together for a few laughs. Fortunately, Baena actually puts a fair amount of effort into creating a solid story that follows the mishaps of Franco's character while providing plenty of opportunities for laughs to occur throughout. The 90 minute run time keeps things moving along nicely and, just when you think the momentum might stall, the comedy kicks back into high gear and doesn't stop until the credits roll.
The Verdict:
The Little Hours is an hilarious homage to Giovanni Boccaccio's "The Decameron" and Jeff Baena has answered all our prayers by delivering a truly great comedy.
The Little Hours is an official selection of the 2017 Seattle International Film Festival.
TwoOhSix.com coverage of the 2017 Seattle International Film Festival.
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